IB Film SL key terms

Everything placed within the frame and captured by the camera: sets, props, costume, lighting, makeup, and the positioning of actors. Analysts read it as deliberate choices that create meaning rather than as neutral background.

The craft of capturing images for the screen, covering camera choice, lenses, exposure, movement, framing, and lighting. It shapes how a viewer perceives space, mood, and point of view in every shot.

The scale of a subject within the frame, running from extreme close-up through close-up, medium, and full shot to extreme wide shot. Scale guides attention and signals emotional distance or intimacy.

Deliberate motion of the camera during a take, such as panning, tilting, tracking, craning, or handheld work. Movement can follow action, reveal information, or create energy and unease.

The range of distance in front of and behind the focal point that stays acceptably sharp. Shallow depth of field isolates a subject; deep depth of field keeps foreground and background equally legible.

A shot in which focus is shifted during the take from one plane to another, pulling the viewer's attention between subjects. It can link two characters or dramatise a realisation without cutting.

The decision about what falls inside the frame's borders and where subjects sit within them. Framing includes headroom, balance, and the use of foreground objects to create layers.

The implied world beyond the four edges of the frame, including sounds and actions the viewer hears or infers but cannot see. Filmmakers use it to suggest threat, scale, or a character's interior life.

A lighting style built on strong contrast between bright and dark areas, often with hard directional sources. It produces dramatic shadows and is associated with film noir and expressionist cinema.

A scheme that fills most of the frame with shadow, using a single strong key light and little or no fill. It creates tension, secrecy, or menace and is common in thrillers and horror.

The planned positioning and movement of actors within a set, coordinated with camera placement. Blocking expresses relationships and power: who faces whom, who turns away, who occupies the centre.

Arranging action across foreground, midground, and background so several planes carry information at once. It rewards the viewer's eye with layered detail and can avoid unnecessary cutting.

The selection and ordering of shots into a sequence. Editing controls rhythm, spatial and temporal continuity, and the viewer's assumptions about cause and effect between images.

A set of conventions that make cuts feel seamless, including matching action, respecting the 180-degree rule, and maintaining consistent screen direction. It keeps the viewer oriented inside a coherent space.

A guideline that keeps the camera on one side of an imaginary line between two subjects, so their left-right positions stay consistent. Crossing the line disorients the viewer unless a neutral shot bridges it.

An editing pattern that alternates between two facing subjects, usually in conversation, showing one and then the other. It builds a sense of exchange and lets performance and reaction carry meaning.

A cut that links a character's look with the object or person they appear to see, matching the direction of gaze. It constructs the impression that two shots share one continuous space.

A sequence that compresses time or builds an idea by joining many brief shots. The term also names the Soviet theory that meaning arises from the collision between shots rather than inside them.

The finding that viewers infer emotion from a neutral face depending on the shot placed next to it. It demonstrates that juxtaposition, not the single image alone, generates meaning.

Audio whose source exists within the story world, such as dialogue, footsteps, or a radio a character switches on. Characters can plausibly hear it, which anchors the scene in its space.

Audio that characters cannot hear, such as a voice-over narrator or a composed score. It speaks directly to the audience and steers mood or interpretation from outside the story world.

The planned construction of a film's soundtrack, including dialogue, ambience, effects, and music, plus their mixing and relative levels. It shapes texture, space, and emotional pressure as much as images do.

Everyday sounds performed and recorded in sync with picture, such as footsteps, cloth rustle, or a door closing. Foley replaces unusable location audio and makes action feel physically present.

The overall arrangement of a story's events, including order, duration, and the pattern of setup, complication, and resolution. It may be linear, fragmented, cyclical, or built from parallel strands.

A common model dividing a story into setup, confrontation, and resolution, with turning points between them. It describes mainstream feature convention rather than a rule every film obeys.

The event that disrupts a character's ordinary situation and sets the main action in motion. It establishes the problem the rest of the narrative must confront or resolve.

The capacity of a character or force to drive events forward through decisions and actions. Analysts ask who wants something, who acts, and who is merely acted upon.

The pattern of change a character undergoes across a film, in belief, behaviour, or circumstance. A flat arc holds a character steady while the world around them shifts instead.

A category of film sharing recognisable conventions, such as horror, western, or musical, which audiences and industries use to predict and market. Genres evolve as filmmakers confirm, blend, or challenge those conventions.

A recurring element audiences expect from a genre, such as a confrontation at high noon in a western or a final girl in a slasher. Conventions can be fulfilled, delayed, or deliberately broken for effect.

The visual and aural stock-in-trade that signals a genre, such as neon and rain for neo-noir or the desert horizon for the western. Iconography communicates genre quickly before plot does.

A film that combines conventions from two or more genres, such as a science-fiction western or a horror comedy. Hybrids often generate novelty by playing one genre's expectations against another's.

The critical idea that a director can be the author of a film, expressing a consistent personal vision across their work. It is useful for tracing style and theme but risks ignoring collaborators.

A recurring element, image, sound, or phrase that accumulates meaning through repetition across a film. Motifs can bind a narrative together and point to its underlying concerns.

The use of an object, colour, or action to carry a meaning beyond its literal function, such as a closed gate standing for confinement. Symbols work through context and repetition, not fixed dictionaries.

The design of a film's physical world, including sets, locations, dressing, and overall visual scheme, led by the production designer. It builds the environment that characters inhabit and that mise-en-scène arranges.

A researched comparison of two or more films that examines how shared themes or formal choices are shaped by differing cultural, historical, or industrial contexts. It requires evidence, not just personal preference.

Investigation into a film's production circumstances, reception, and historical setting, drawn from credible sources. It grounds interpretation in verifiable evidence about when, where, and how a film was made and seen.

The beliefs, values, and social conditions of the society in which a film was produced or received. It helps explain why the same narrative device can carry different meanings for different audiences.

A named body of ideas used to analyse a film, such as feminist film theory or genre theory. It supplies the questions an analyst asks and the vocabulary used to justify claims.

Primary sources are the films and original documents themselves; secondary sources are analyses, reviews, and histories written about them. Research credibility depends on distinguishing and citing both accurately.

A filmmaker's stated aim for a project: the effect, meaning, or experience they set out to produce. It is the benchmark against which portfolio work and its reflection are judged.

A short prose document outlining a film's story, characters, visual approach, and intended tone. It communicates creative intention before production and guides later decisions.

A planning document enumerating each shot to be captured, with description, size, and any notes on movement or equipment. It organises a shoot and helps a crew work efficiently on limited time.

A sequence of sketches showing how shots will look and connect before filming. It tests framing and continuity on paper and communicates visual plans to collaborators.

The ongoing habit of documenting and evaluating one's own production decisions, including failures and revisions. Reflection connects intention to outcome and is assessed as evidence of learning, not as a diary.

A visible inconsistency between shots, such as a prop changing position, clothing altering, or light shifting direction. Identifying such errors sharpens attention to how continuity is normally maintained.

The range of shots captured for a scene, from wide masters to close-ups and inserts, giving options in the edit. Insufficient coverage can trap an editor with no way to cut around problems.

Working with others toward a shared production goal, distributing roles and negotiating decisions. Effective collaboration requires clear communication, agreed responsibilities, and constructive handling of disagreement.

A defined job within a film crew, such as director, cinematographer, editor, or sound recordist, each with specific responsibilities. Understanding roles clarifies who decides what during a shoot.

The shared vocabulary of film analysis and production, including shot names, editing terms, and sound categories. Precise terminology lets a candidate describe evidence clearly and be understood by an examiner.